The Baked Ziti Attempt - No,no, no...The Baked Ziti Triumph
11:39 AM
When you have other things to pay for like rent or the electricity bill, grabbing a month's worth of Ramen noodles seems like the best avenue, right? Well NOT THIS TIME! Today, I've decided to be rebellious, throw caution to the wind, and make that first step...to the kitchen. Today...I've decided to cook baked ziti. And it's gonna be amazing.
I'm sure that I am super far behind the cooking learning curve here so if you've already perfected the art of baked ziti, congratulations. For my fellow undergrads who think that making grilled cheese takes pure talent, then check out the recipe below.
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
- a cup of ricotta cheese
- a box of ziti noodles (I don't know how much that is...a lb. maybe?
- a couple handfuls of mozzarella cheese
- Preheat the stove to 375 degrees
- Fill a big pot with water, sprinkle a little salt in the bottom, add in about 3/4 of the box of noodles, and bring the water to a boil.
- As you're waiting for you noodles to boil, brown you ground beef the same way you would if you were making spaghetti (...or have seen it done in the movies). I like to season it with pepper and garlic salt but do what you feel.
- Heat up your spaghetti sauce in a smaller pot and...just let it sit there. (You'll know when it starts getting hot because it will pop everywhere...EVERYWHERE.)
- Once your ground beef is browned, drain it over the sink and dump the meet into the pot with the sauce. If you're still waiting for the noodles to boil...just chill out somewhere. Go watch the first ten minutes of Walking Dead or Scandal or something.
- After the pot starts boiling, using a fork, grab one of the ziti noodles and taste it. If it's still hard, give it a few minutes. If its still firm but edible, then it's time to take the pot off of the stove, and strain the noodles.
- Leave them on an unused burner and grab a long pan. Other recipes will tell you to layer the sauce, then layer the noodles, then the ricotta, then layer the sauce, then layer the noodles, then the ricotta, blah blah blah. Forget it. Mix all that stuff together when you feel like it. (FYI for my non-undergrad readers: we really DON'T take direction well.)
- Sprinkle all of the mozzarella cheese on top of your creation and throw it in the oven. Ummm I don't really know how long it's in there, I just wait til the top looks a little brown (probably like 30 minutes?) before I take it out.
- Once it's crispy to perfection in your eyes, take it out and enjoy!
I'm not gonna lie, this took a lot of effort. How do people do this on a daily basis?? Well I guess that's one reason why I like this dish - it's gonna last me a week! :)
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